On Friday, the New York Times published this article, about a women's tennis player at Arkansas who was found to have entered a tournament as a professional and was suspended immediately, and barred from competing in the NCAA Regionals Friday. You might think this indicates that the NCAA has been shamed into action by the Times' investigation into this issue, which was published last month, but this is all self-policing by the school and the SEC. The AP's version of the story has this very curious quote by Wally Renfro, senior adviser to the NCAA president:
"They're the ones who have indicated that they want student athletes to not have played as professionals, not to have played with professionals, [emphasis mine] not to have accepted prize money that exceeds the expenses involved in participating," he said.
Amateurs play with professionals all the time; the USTA approved that for major junior events several years ago, and every single Pro Circuit Futures event in the country has dozens of amateur juniors in it. Doesn't give me a lot of confidence that the NCAA knows what's going on.